Weapons of the Galaxy
Warning: Much information in this article is drawn from the 3400 edition of Jayne's Frightening Ships of the Galaxy. ''Any resemblance to the facts, real or imagined, is purely coincidental. No starships were harmed in the creation of this article. Beam Weapons of the Galaxy Mass Drivers Mass drivers are defined as 'gun-type' weapons that deliver most of a projectile's kinetic energy in a single burst at the launcher, with any maneuvers performed by the projectile being secondary for guidance purposes. Mass drivers are classed as beam weapons because most of the work of targeting must be done by the firing ship, and thus they resemble light speed weapons in their effects and uses. Weapons that fire a self-accelerating projectile at relatively low initial speeds should be classified as "missiles." K-bolts K-bolters are the standard projectile weapon of the Bragulan Star Empire and are usually delivered to their targets by way of mass drivers. Conventional small- to heavy-scale bolters from those used by infantry to those in warships utilize standard rail- or gauss-type accelerators to propel their projectiles. In even larger cases, like superheavy warships and grand planetary cannons, turbo-cyclotrons are used to hurl truly massive acid bullets at incredible distances. Infantry K-bolters usually travel at hypersonic speeds and range in the kilometers, while the largest big bore battle-bolts launched from warships can go relativistic and strike targets thousands of miles away. K-bolts are not only potent kinetic projectiles, but are coated in a vegemite derivative that upon ignition transmutes into K-residue, a highly radioactive and extremely corrosive molecular acid that can eat through the strongest of armors and dissolve living tissue with ease. K-residue actually follows the exotic processes of vegemite in an accelerated yet limited fashion; accelerated in its virulent catalyzation of matter at the sub-molecular level but limited in that it only breaks down matter without using the byproducts for self-replication or crystalization. Some technical terminologies classify K-residue coatings as ''penetration aids as the acids aid in the projectile's penetration, and the projectile's penetration allows the acids to spread inside the target''. While its effect on energy shields are minimal, unless used in such quantities as to saturate force fields in K-residue, upon physical contact with the target the results are very much beyond that of the worst incendiary weapons imaginable. The use of K-bolts in the Bragulan military has been denounced by the galactic community as cruel and inhumane, which to the Bragulans is the exact point. K-bolters are among Bragule's best-selling exports and are ubiquitous amongst the revolutionary movements, terrorist organizations and criminal syndicates of the galaxy. Light-Speed ("Energy") Weapons Gatling Laser The Gatling laser is a fairly simple but effective category of point defense weapons used by the Nova Atlantean Star Navy since the Barbarian Wars and is employed in a variety of classes, from dreadnoughts to fighters. The concept can be summed up as a ring of 4-8 laser cannons clustered together along a single mount, which cycles through a firing sequence bearing a resemblance to the ancient Terran Gatling guns of old. The laser assemblies are hooked up to large-scale capacitors and direct power feeds; as the assembly is much simpler to cool than most other comparable weapons, a single Gatling laser mount can maintain what is effectively a constant beam. Compared to traditional projectile-based weaponry, Nova Atlantean Gatling lasers are accurate and have long range, making them ideal point defense weapons useful against fighters, missiles, and small spacecraft. In times when raw firepower in a split second is required, the entire weapon can be made to fire all barrels at once. This has led to the Nova Atlantean expression "All Six Barrels," meaning to put all of one's effort into a single action. Umerian Particle Beam Weapons This section a work in progress. Exotic Physics Weapons This category includes any weapons which rely on forces or techniques not part of the standard four-force model of physics that prevailed up until the discovery of the Heim Drive. Autolaser The primary weapons system of Solarian capital ships, autolasers are quick-recharging, heavy-hitting exotic particle beam weapons. Each autolaser battery is powered and fueled by a small dark energy reactor which converts the ambient dark energy that naturally permeates all of space into a high-energy plasma. Autolasers fire pulses or beams of this exotic matter, which has various strange properties such as pseudo-negative mass, limited anisotropy, and extreme energy density. Due to the nature of this sort of exotic matter, it causes normal matter to vaporize and cease to exist. Though extremely power-hungry and prone to producing such vast quantities of waste heat that each autolaser tower requires complex cryosystems just to prevent the weapon from melting, autolasers are exceedingly powerful weapons, capable of incinerating swarms of fighters, blasting planetary targets, or vaporizing vast chunks of enemy capital ships with huge, glowing energy beams. Beam Cannon When the genetically-engineered Chamarrans descended upon the Makayan Republic in their Juggernauts in 3042, the guns that scourged a thousand ships from the skies were their Beam Cannons. In the aftermath of the war, the Chamarrans themselves endeavored to learn the secrets of the weapons their creators had equipped them with, and the Sultanate of Klavostan also decided to pursue this technology as the future of space warfare. Hard-hitting, relatively energy-efficient (though certainly energy-hungry), retaining remarkable coherence over long range, and possessing amazing ability for off-axis fire, the differing levels of technology between the two nations resulted in differing tactical deployment. Chamarran vessels employ very large beam cannons singly or in small numbers, while Klavostani ships bristle with varying smaller calibres of beam cannon, from their multiple long-range forward guns to broadsides, and even smaller-calibre point defense weapons. Cadence Lance Cadence lance technology was first developed in the late 3200s by the Nova Atlantean Commonwealth of Worlds and the Interstellar Union of Worlds as an energy-efficient way of exploiting the resonant frequency of defensive shields. Before this time, resonance attacks were only possible using inefficient tunable weapons such as the free electron laser, which limited their effectiveness. Cadence lances make such attacks far easier, allowing the firing ship to quickly find and overwhelm the target's defense, overloading and burning out the shield generators. Even if the target survives the aftereffects of burnout and is not crushed by the implosion of its wall shield, it becomes a very easy target for conventional weapons. Circa 3300, cadence lances were extremely effective antiship weapons. A well designed ship's shield generators could survive being taken under fire by own-caliber lance fire for a short time, but if the cadence beam could be sustained, burnout was inevitable. This led to the installation of cadence lances as main armament in a wide variety of ship classes, ranging from frigate to battleship tonnage; the generators for the lance were too bulky to be used in ships below frigate weight. The ensuing naval design panic was brought to a quick halt by a relatively simple advance in defensive technology: the polycyclic shield. Polycyclics operate at extremely high linewidth, meaning that they have no resonant frequency to attack, which makes them almost completely immune to cadence beam attacks. The early generation of polycyclic screens were bulky and compromised on protection against conventional weapons, but the technology has since been miniaturized until polycyclics are almost as efficient as their single-frequency rivals. Cadence lances are now largely ineffective against capital ships, since even old ships that predate the invention of cadence-beam technology have long since been retrofitted with polycyclic shielding, at least in a light supplementary layer designed specifically to repel resonance attacks. In turn, the lances themselves have mostly disappeared, removed from old ships and replaced with simpler, less easily thwarted weapons. However, some cadence lance equipped ships can still be found in the navies of minor powers, as hand-me-downs from the era when they are popular. Particle Lance The Particle Lance is a class of ultra heavy charged particle cannon designed by the Nova Atlantean Commonwealth in the 3320s. While such weapons are not uncommon, their are several differences. The first being that the beam is unusually tight for it's size. The second being that its range. Most energy mounts have been limited in effective range to at most a couple of light sconds due to the fact of the lightspeed barrier, the particle lance has a range in excess of 5,000,000 km. Before the Beam is fired, a quantum tunnel is created in which the flow of time is roughly ten times faster than it is in the surrounding space, however its aplications were limited due to the fact that large quantities of matter blocked the beam and the limitations of projection technology. Sub atomic particles did not, however, have such shading effects. The end result is an energy weapon which can reliably deliver a single devestating blow against enemy spacecraft at long distance. Despite this, these devises are huge and have enormous masses. As such they are only mounted on ''Kusenagi class Lance Cruisers and Atlantis Class Dreadnouts. Particle Lance technology is closely guarded by the Commonwealth and the UWC has put considerable effort in making sure this remains the case. Missiles of the Galaxy 007-P Bragranit The Bragranit (USSF reporting name Spacewreck) is a modern anti-ship cruise missile of the Imperial Bragulan Navy and is the primary armament of its specialized missile combatants. Unlike the ubiquitous Spud, the Bragranit does not use internal atomic combustion but instead uses subnucleonic drives to propel it at even greater velocities, with kosmodynamic atomic thrust vectoring for improved maneuverability against enemy point defenses. It can either carry one very large warhead or launch multiple independent revengeance vehicles armed with focused vegemite-enhanced nuclear warheads along with penetration aids. The Bragranit sports a very flexible guidance system. It is capable of semi-active homing wherein the launcher ship/s "paints" the chosen target with its aggressive arrays in a fashion similar to a laser designator, or it can use its own active/passive-aggressive arrays for total independent targeting and autonomous attack. When in groups, Bragranits cover themselves in a very intense radiological jamming field; only one missile protrudes out of this field to use its sensors while feeding target information to its fellow missiles via gamma ray pulse datalink. The spotter missile bobs in and out of the jamming field to make itself a more difficult target, and if it is shot down, another missile can simply replace it. The Bragranit can prioritize targets by value and organize attack sequences based on sensor data, detected ship-types and their dispositions, autonomous computronic calculations, and pre-programmed battle formations. In terminal approach, it can either light up its aggressive arrays, switch to home-on-jam or radioactive anti-radiation (RAR) modes, or launch MIRVs with their own internal guidance systems. If enemy countermeasures and jamming prove undefeatable, or if its sensors are compromised, the Bragranit can switch to a remarkably precise inertial guidance system with a smaller CEP than many mass drivers. 08M3 Moskill The Moskill is an anti-ship/space-to-surface cruise missile designed by Braguda MKB to arm not only the warships of the Imperial Bragulan Navy, but also its gunships and fighter-bombers. It is smaller than the Bragranit and possesses a less sophisticated guidance system than its larger comrade, so it relies on a redlined subnucleonic drive linked to four atomic bussard ramjets to give it the sheer speed needed to penetrate enemy defenses. Compared to missiles that use small sensor cross section and low-intensity thrust to evade defenses, the Moskill uses its velocity to minimize the enemy's reaction time. It is highly maneuverable, and when in semi-active homing mode it can turn its unused sensor suite into a radiological jammer. To increase survivability, its designers have also outfitted it with vegemite chaff dispensers. It can be armed with a sizeable single vegemite-enhanced atomic warhead or MIRVs and penetration aids, albeit of slightly smaller quantities than those on the Bragranit. The Moskill comes in many variants, from mobile planetary-launched versions on Spud-like internal atomic combustion boosters, to shortened "bullpup" versions for SNT fighters and Grizzly Gugafez gunboat missileers, to the cruise missiles for capital warships. Unlike the Bragranit, the Moskill is also offered for export, where it mainly competes with the French Endocet and the Shinra/Haruhiist Halberd/Naginata. DR-580 Pilum Planetary Defense Missile Launch Vehicle The DR-580 Pilum is a countergrav vehicle carrying two anti-ship missiles mounted on a low-end linear catapult assembly. Each missile is eight meters long and is equipped with disposable countergrav coils to let it quickly clear the launcher before engaging its main engine shortly afterwards. It has a maximum range of 500,000 kilometers. It can also be used against heavy ground-based targets, such as divisions of soldiers on the march or ultraheavy land vehicles. Typically, Pilums work in close conjunction with Testudo mobile shield generators. Endocet The Endocet is an anti-ship missile manufactured by the Fourth French Empire that can be launched by warships, small craft, aerospace fighters, planetary installations and ground vehicles, it is one of the galaxy's more ubiquitous space weapons and has been used in numerous conflicts since its first deployment in the year 3369. The Endocet is designed to attack small- to medium-sized warships (e.g. frigates, corvettes, and destroyers), though multiple hits are also effective against larger vessels. Its compact design gives it a relatively low sensor cross-section (SCS), reducing its visibility and thus its detectability. To make it more difficult to track, it also uses passive sensors until making its final approach to the target, when it switches to its active arrays. It has a low-emission ion thruster that makes it slower than other space missiles, but also harder to detect as well. The planetary-launched version places the missile and an orbital booster inside a launch capsule. The Endocet became noted galaxy-wide during the Balklands War in the 3370s, when the United Star Kingdom of New Anglia and the Argenti Federation fought over the Sammich Planets. In the conflict, a number of Anglian warships were damaged by Endocets fired by Argentian fighters and improvised planetary launchers, prompting an irate then-Prime Minister of Anglia to force the Endocet's codes and homing sensors out of the perfidious French. Halberd/Naginata/Morningstar Hornisse attack fighter]] One of many weapons systems jointly developed by the Shinra Republic and Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya, the Halberd/Naginata (the respective designations used by the Shinra Republic Navy and SOS Imperial Navy) is the primary competitor of the French Endocet and Bragulan Moskill on the galactic arms market. Its development and deployment predates that of the Endocet, with the first examples entering service with the Shinra Republic Navy and SOS Imperial Navy in 3367. Like the Endocet, the Halberd/Naginata can be launched by multiple platforms, such as warships, small craft, aerospace fighters, fixed planetary installations, and ground vehicles. Other comparable weapons include the New Anglian Star Eagle anti-matter torpedo, the Tianguoese DD-320 Ying Xing kinetic-kill missile, and the Umerian Mk IV "Cantaloupe" anti-ship torpedo. The Halberd/Naginata, like the Endocet, is primarily designed to engage small- to medium-sized warships (e.g. frigates, corvettes, and destroyers), though multiple hits are also effective against larger vessels. To improve survivability against point defense systems, it uses passive sensors for much of its flight, only activating active sensors during its final approach. The planetary-launch variant is fitted with an orbital booster and energy-shielded launch capsule. The Halberd/Naginata has been further developed into the Morningstar heavy ground-attack missile, with a larger warhead and fully autonomous target acquisition capability; like the Shepistani SMARM, the Morningstar can loiter over a target area and search for targets of opportunity if its original target is lost. The Morningstar can also be used for anti-ship attack, where its enhanced warhead allows it to inflict considerable damage against large vessels; while its larger sensor cross-section compared to the original Halberd/Naginata and its high-emission ion thrusters make it somewhat more vulnerable to tracking, it makes up for that with sheer agility, comparable to the C-SMARM or the "Sledgehammer" second stage of the Nova Atlantean Type-58 torpedo. Haruhiist Missile Massacre Pod A true revolution in space combat, the Haruhiist Missile Massacre pod enables regular starfighters and gunships to launch missiles far in excess of their normal carrying capacity, allowing them to engage large numbers of targets simultaneously, overwhelm point defenses, or beat down hardened targets through sheer force of numbers. Built by a consortium of Haruhiist defense corporations, the HMM pod utilizes proprietary "malletspace" munitions storage techniquesReports that the pods must be loaded at the factory by angry young women are generally considered to be disinformation spread by the Holy Empire's military-industrial complex to baffle competitors. If so, it has succeeded; competitors are well and truly baffled as to how the loading process works., which gives the system its unparalleled carrying capacity. Regular HMM pods are compatible with all aerospace craft currently in service with the SOS Imperial Armed Forces, while a modified and significantly enlarged version of the technology forms part of the missile armament of SOS Imperial Navy warships. Even though HMM pods sold on the export market have greatly reduced missile capacity compared to regular SOS Imperial Armed Forces pods, they are still extremely dangerous weapons. Smart Malingering Anti Radiation Missile (SMARM) The Smart Malingering Anti Radiation Missile (SMARM) is an advanced munition used by the Shepistani Republic. As its name implies, it has a loitering capability allowing it to stay over a suspect target area looking for new targets of opportunity if the original target is lost. It is capable of homing against almost any type of radiation source, up to reflected ultraviolet emissions from human skin. The SMARM has a covert operations variant, the C-SMARM. The C-SMARM's main casing is made out of C-431 instead of a more conventional casing material, and all non-C-431 materials are positioned within the explosive filling so that they will be destroyed utterly when the weapon detonates. The C-SMARM is particularly notable for its agility; it can execute a 90 degree turn at Mach 6.6 in less than one meter's travel length in order to strike targets out of the way. Spud The 011-R Bearlbrus, more commonly known as the "Spud" (its Solarian reporting name), is an extremely large thermonuclear missile tracing its origins to the early centuries of the Bragulan space age. The rockets used in the colonization of the Bragulan system and the missiles later launched from Bragule to kill those colonists are considered ancestors of the Spud as they share roughly the same thermonuclear propulsion system. The modern Spud is powered by liquid uranium and liquid plutonium injected into an internal atomic combustion chamber, a crude method that nonetheless makes it surprisingly fast even in an age of exotic power sources and space drives. The Spud's large size also makes it a large target for point defenses, but its designers have made the missile extremely resilient to damage by armoring its nosecone with the very same bragsteel used in its combustion chambers. Advanced variants can actually mount their own defensive missiles and K-bolter CIWS, meaning that a sufficiently upgraded Spud can deliver its warheads to even targets with formidable protection. The standard tactic is to launch them'' en masse'', letting sheer numbers overwhelm the defenders in a flurry of oversized radiation-spewing missiles, independent revengeance vehicles, and penetration aids. Since a single Spud is as big as a building and has several tons of fissible material divided among dozens of MIRVs, even if only a few make it through the defenses the ensuing damage will still be quite severe. In the case of Spuds armed with vegemite-enhanced nucleonics, the megatonnage they carry make them very capable anti-capital weapons. The Spud has been in production for centuries, meaning that there is an enormous stockpile of the ancient missiles. Most are either used "as is" by the Bragulan militaries or exported to anyone in the market for strategic nuclear weapons. Some have been modernized progressively for use by frontline Bragulan units and are far more capable than the obsolete variants in the export market. Due to their size, Spuds can only be launched by larger platforms, such as planetary launchers and warships. Type-54 Firelance Medium Range Torpedo The Type-54 is a product of the same program that created the Type-58 Heavy Torpedo. Named for the earliest firearms, the Firelance is 16.85 meters long and 2.25 meters in diameter. It is usually (though not exclusively) launched via gravitic accelerator like its larger counterpart. While its effective range is only 55% that of the Type-58, it reaches top speed more quickly and is much more maneuverable. Like the Mjolnir, it has a set of shield generators to offer some protection as it converges on its target; however, these shields only offer minimal protection, leaving the missile reliant on sheer speed and agility as its primary defenses. The Type-54 is designed mainly for use against corvette to cruiser-sized vessels, though it is still capable of inflicting damage against larger spacecraft. The Nova Atlantean Star Navy typically deploys the Type-54 aboard Godslayer class destroyers, Bullshark gunships, and defense platforms; the weapon has also seen some success on the galactic arms market, though not to the same extent as the Endocet, Halberd/Naginata, or Moskill. Some consideration has been put into using the Type-54 as a countermeasure against the Byzantine Nova Gun in case war with the Imperium should break out. Type-58 Mjolnir Heavy Torpedo First put into production in 3328, the Type-58 Firelance Heavy Missile, more commonly known as the Mjolnir Heavy Torpedo, is the primary long range missile of the Nova Atlantean Star Navy, the result of 15 years of research and development by Tau Earth Caste and posthuman engineers. Each missile is 56 meters long, 5.4 meters in diameter, and masses 800 tonnes and is typically launched from a specialized gravitic accelerator assembly. The Mjolnir is a double-stage missile, using a gravitic-enhanced anti-matter drive system to reach maximum speed. The first stage is used up fairly quickly, while the second stage can carry one of two payloads: *Sledgehammer: A secondary stage used to deliver a single massive warhead (as well as a large amount of kinetic energy) to the enemy. The Sledgehammer has high-performance maneuvering thrusters, allowing it to swerve and dodge as it closes in to reduce chances of interception, as well as carrying a set of onboard shield generators to give it suprising durability to allow it to bypass enemy shields. Several types of warheads are used, including conventional (which has the greatest sheer firepower of the various warhead types), "Surge Disruptor" (an adaptation of the cadence lance technology capable of disrupting monocyclic shields within a radius of several thousand kilometers), and laser-pumped (a proximity-burst weapon that sacrifices yield for blast radius, enabling it to damage multiple targets within a radius of several thousand kilometers). The Surge Disruptor warhead was rapidly pulled out of most front-line service due to its ineffectiveness against modern capital ships fitted with polycyclic shielding, though it still sees limited use to this day as an anti-starfighter and anti-gunship weapon. *Wasphive: More commonly refered to as "Clusterfuck," the secondary stage is in fact a cluster of six Type-54 Firelance Medium-Range Torpedoes. These separate and close in on diferent vectors, and while they are individually less durable than a Sledgehammer, each individual missile has a greater chance of evading enemy fire. The Type-58's size and mass mean that only defense platforms, Xiongnu class Missile Frigates, and ships of the wall can carry these weapons. The Commonwealth has accumulated a considerable stockpile of these weapons and can be launch them in considerable salvos (an Atlantis class dreadnought has some twenty-four launch assemblies). With excellent range, durability, and payload, the Type-58 is among the most effective long-range missiles in service today, allowing the Commonwealth wall of battle an AU-level standoff range from which it can bring down its might like the hammer of the gods for which it is named. Notes and References Category:Space Navy Category:Ground Forces